No abstract

Most free smartphone menstrual cycle tracking apps for patient use are inaccurate. Few cite medical literature or health professional involvement. We list accurate apps to aid health care providers in understanding the key components they can use to evaluate and recommend apps for patients.

The prevalence of S aureus colonization identified in GBS screening cultures from pregnant women was substantial and associated with GBS co-colonization. Although we do not advocate routine screening of pregnant women for methicillin-sensitive S aureus and methicillin-resistant S aureus colonization, we recommend continued monitoring of both methicillin-sensitive S aureus and methicillin-resistant S aureus infections in this population and their infants.

Clinical diagnosis of genital HSV infection during pregnancy in HIV-infected women may be a risk factor for perinatal HIV transmission. If future studies confirm this association, therapy to suppress genital HSV reactivation during pregnancy may be a strategy to reduce perinatal HIV transmission.

In this cohort, the rate of clinical progression of HIV-1 infection was not greater for HCV-infected women.

No abstract

Background Many pregnant women use the internet to obtain information about pregnancy and childbirth. Over 50% of pregnant women use pregnancy apps and must search through thousands of pregnancy or women’s health–related apps available on app stores. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing how women receive prenatal care. Mobile health apps may help maintain women’s satisfaction with their prenatal care. Objective Our objective is to identify pregnancy mobile apps and to evaluate the apps using a modified APPLICATIONS (app comprehensiveness, price, privacy, literature used, in-app purchases, connectivity, advertisements, text search field, images/videos, other special features, navigation ease, subjective presentation) scoring system. Methods A list of pregnancy apps was identified in the first 20 Google search results using the search term “pregnancy app.” After excluding irrelevant, inaccurate, malfunctioning, or no longer available apps, all unique apps were downloaded and evaluated with the modified APPLICATIONS scoring system, which includes both objective and subjective criteria and evaluation of special features. Results A list of 57 unique pregnancy apps was generated. After 28 apps were excluded, the remaining 29 apps were evaluated, with a mean score of 9.4 points out of a maximum of 16. The highest scoring app scored 15 points. Over 60% (18/29) of apps did not have comprehensive information for every stage of pregnancy or did not contain all four desired components of pregnancy apps: health promotion/patient education, communication, health tracking, and notifications and reminders. Only 24% (7/29) of apps included a text search field, and only 28% (8/29) of apps cited literature. Conclusions Our search yielded many high-scoring apps, but few contained all desired components and features. This list of identified and rated apps can lessen the burden on pregnant women and providers to find available apps on their own. Although health care providers should continue to vet apps before recommending them to patients, these findings also highlight that a Google search is a successful way for patients and providers to find useful and comprehensive pregnancy apps.

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors and outcomes of pregnant women with vaginal-rectal carriage of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA). We performed an unmatched 1:4 case-control study with two control groups (13 CA-MRSA cases, 52 methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) controls, and 52 S. aureus-negative controls) via a retrospective medical record review. We found that CA-MRSA cases were 12.5 times significantly less likely to be colonized with group B streptococci (GBS) compared with MSSA controls in multivariable analyses. When we compared MSSA patients with S. aureus-negative patients, we found that MSSA patients were 4.5 times significantly more likely to be colonized with GBS and 11 times significantly more likely to have a postpartum fever > or = 100.4 degrees F in multivariable analyses. Traditional risk factors for hospital-associated MRSA do not appear to predict vaginal-rectal CA-MRSA carriage in pregnant women. Instead, CA-MRSA carriage is significantly associated with lack of GBS carriage. Additional microbiologic studies and epidemiologic studies are needed to clarify the relationship between S. aureus and GBS, given that these two colonizing organisms have the potential to become pathogens.